The Snowball Effect
by everybreatheverymove
Summary: Oneshot AU: When April and Jackson get snowed in during a blizzard, there's only so much these two friends can handle before the sexual tension and the fireplaces and the candles become too much. J/A.


**This is just a oneshot. I feel like those AU snowed-in ones tend to be a must for OTPs of mine, and I'm pretty sure there hasn't been one for J/A yet, so here it goes! Enjoy and review, please! :)**

* * *

Comfortably nesting herself into the dozens of cushions behind her, April tugs on the sleeves of her sweater and curls her legs up beneath her.

They never should have come back. They should have just stayed with the others and gone for dinner. But, no. She just had to get back to the cabin, and he just had to follow her, and a huge blizzard just had to arrive as soon as they'd gotten past the front door.

She reaches forward to pick up her warm cup of cocoa from the coffee table, making sure to blow the liquid before she takes a sip.

The six of them, the Shepherds and the Sloans, along with her and her best friend, had decided to take a small break for the Winter holidays. They were hard working surgeons after all, they more than deserved it. So, she, along with said best friend who was now outside picking up chopped wood, had booked everyone into a remote cabin at a ski resort.

Luckily, it was beautiful and definitely worth the expense, but unfortunately the place was a good two miles away from the rest of the resort and it was so secluded that the only road in side was the freaking driveway.

"I knew we should've booked the economy rooms."

But, no. Her best friend, and his proud mentor, had decided that it was worth splurging and that they all needed a little privacy. Of course, she could understand that. Four of the six of them were married couples, but the other two were just friends and found the intimate dinners somewhat awkward.

So, now, here she was. Cold, hungry and almost alone in a quiet little cabin with nothing but candles to light the room and, hopefully, some logs to heat the place up.

"Hey!"

She turns her head at the sound of Jackson entering the lodge for the third time, slamming the door behind him when he's inside. He turns the key, locks the bolt with one hand, and quickly hurries over to drop a ton of chopped-up wood onto a small burning fire.

He stares down triumphantly at the fire with a small grin, watching as it slowly starts to grow. "You think that'll be enough?"

"It should be." She agrees, mouth resting against the edge of her mug as she continues to blow her cocoa.

Jackson nods, taking a step back and unzipping his winter jacket before he flings it across the back of the couch facing her.

"Hey, that's wet!"

"There's no heating and I can barely see you right now, are you seriously gonna complain about a wet coat?"

The redhead shrugs, folds her arms again, resting the mug atop her knee. "No."

She pouts and he grins, heading off into the kitchen area to open the dark fridge.

"Do we have any more candles?"

"They're all in here. I went through all the cupboards and everything and these were the best I could find."

Jackson nods, "You trying to seduce me, April?" He laughs, checking the warm kettle before he grabs another mug from the countertop and makes himself a hot chocolate.

"I- No."

April swallows a breath, diverts her gaze down to the dark floorboards.

She'll admit, she'd always had a dream about running away to a peaceful cabin to spend some alone time with someone.

But in her fantasies,that someone wasn't her best friend who could do so much better than hook up with her of all people, and they wouldn't be alone because they were dumb enough to return back to their cabin when everyone else went off to diner.

"I tried to calling Sloan." He admits, walking back over to her and plopping down on the opposing couch.

She raises a brow, untucks her legs. "Did he pick up?"

"No." He shakes his head, "None of them did." He squints, eyeing the chocolate drink in his lap and he groans, "I bet they're all enjoying a good steak right now."

"The power's out, Jackson. I doubt the restaurant is serving food."

He licks his lips and brings his mug up to his mouth, "Good point."

April runs a hand through her long locks before she sighs, watching as a few of the candles she'd laid out on the fireplace start to flicker. "Oh, no, come on, please." She whines and Jackson smirks as two of the tall candles go out.

"Where did you put the matches?"

"We have none left. I used them all."

"Lighter?"

"None of us smoke." She points out, standing up and placing her cup down on the table. She paces back and forth in front of the fireplace.

"Well, at least we have the fire."

She nods, a small smile gracing her lips as she eyes the red flames dance, "Yeah, we do." She allows her brain to wander off into unknown territory. It's definitely unknown, definitely foreign to her. Her fantasises keep springing to mind and she has to avoid any contact with him.

He's good looking, probably more attractive than a good percentage of the entire male population, but she's never really thought of him that way.

Of course, she saw him like that sometimes, and his eyes never failed to captivate her.

But he has never been about his looks. He's her friend, her best. And he's kind, and smart, and definitely not worth losing just because she doesn't want to keep it in her pants any longer.

"What?"

She quickly gulps and shakes her head, carefully avoiding his stare, "Nothing." She sighs, "I'm gonna go change for bed."

"Okay?" He raises a brow, intently watching her as she walks past him towards the hallway, taking a large candle on a stick with her for light. "I'll see if we have any food."

* * *

"Did Lexie not bring the potato chips?" He calls out, closing the kitchen cupboard and turning around just as the redhead reappears.

"I guess not." She shrugs, standing awkwardly beside the island, hands against the wooden surface.

Jackson nods with a smile, trying to ignore her choice of attire for the night.

She usually wears pyjama pants and a tank top, but she'd instead opted for some short shorts and a tank. Not that he's opposed or that he should even care that much, but he's just a little confused by her sleepwear.

"It's-" April begins, noticing him staring at her bare legs. She gestures her hands about, chewing her bottom lip, "If I wear pants then I won't be any warmer when I have a blanket to sleep, but- But if I wear shorts, then my body won't fight off the heat. They'll regulate it." She rambles and he frowns.

He's not entirely sure what she said, and he's definitely not buying her logic but he plays along, "I could always keep you warm, you know." He spins around to grab items from the counter, purposefully ignoring the stunned look on her face. He was joking, wasn't he?

"I- Uh, you-"

"I was kidding, April." He informs her, trying to get his message across by raising his brows convincingly, "But, you know, I can... if you want."

"No! No, I- I do not, thank you."

"Okay." He smirks and holds up his hands, "Okay, the only things that we're in this crappy fridge were a can of spray cream and some disgusting looking mushrooms. Plus, the cream is half empty and I really don't wanna think about what people we're doing with it." He teases, trying to lighten the mood and pushing the spray cream across the counter.

"Oh, God." She giggles, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear, "Well, we could always finish it off."

Wait, what?

"Yeah?"

"No!" She quickly covers up, folding her arms back over her chest and biting her lip. "I didn't, erm-"

"Right." He lets it drop, clearing his throat and avoiding looking at her for a minute as he washes their cups in the sink.

She continues to stand silently in the doorway before she gives up, heading into the lounge area again and sitting down on the thick rug, pulling the stack of wool blankets down beside her. She throws one of the plaid blankets open before she covers her lap, sitting comfortably on the quilted floor. If they're gonna spend the night in a freezing cold cabin then she might as well do it in warmth.

What had she been thinking?

The shorts will keep my body heat regulated. What even was that? She scowls to herself then, hazel eyes catching the moving flames again, letting her mind drift off into fantasy land again.

"I'm gonna go have a shower. Will you be okay?"

She avoids looking at him, to make sure she doesn't slip up again, "I'm a grown woman, Jackson."

"Right, yeah. Sorry."

She glances up finally when he moves away and down the corridor, pushing open the bathroom door.

She's not sure what's happening to her, in all honesty.

A couple of hours ago, she had been perfectly fine. Her best friend was just her best friend, and she wasn't having dirty thoughts about running her hands up and down his caramel skin. What the hell was wrong with her?

It must have been the cold that was getting to her, or she was just tired and needed sleep.

Maybe if she rested, she's be alright, she wouldn't be having quick and short little daydreams about her handsome best friend corrupting her in front of a burning fire.

How cheesy was that anyway?

Granted, she lacks experience and her idea of romance is probably very different than the average thirty-year old woman's. But even she knows that it's weird to imagine such scenarios.

She lies down on the rug, using a pillow from the couch to support her head and she pulls the blanket up to her shoulders, tugging the wool cloth close to her body.

* * *

He's not sure when things started to change.

Maybe it was when they moved into together, or when they decided to, for some odd reason, come on a couple's getaway. Or, just maybe, it was when she started making comments that he couldn't forget and when she wore shorts when she never did.

He's not an asshole. He knows full well what she's like, and who she is, and he probably knows her better than anybody else does.

But he can't help it. And she's kind of encouraging him.

He's not sure how to forget about the little things she'd been doing all night.

Let's use the spray cream.

Let me just walk around in tiny shorts even though I'm freezing cold.

Let me lie down on a rug in front of a fireplace.

Let's just light some candles, shall we?

Either he was reading way too much into things, or she was definitely dropping hints that she wanted to cross the lines from friends into unknown territory.

Well, unknown to her, he knew exactly what to do. And he's not entirely opposed to the idea of educating her, though he knows that he should be.

When he comes out of the bathroom, he purposefully choices to ignore his shirt and just walk around in his pyjama pants. For the body heat, right?

He smirks to himself as he enters the lounge. He's not trying to be a pervert and corrupt her, though she clearly wants him to; he's just toying with her, seeing what's changed, what's happened between them.

Oh, and it doesn't help that they have to share a bed. Because apparently the resort had misunderstood their request and they'd booked the group into a three-bedroom lodge.

And even though Jackson had told her that he'd be more than fine with sleeping on the sofa, she'd been opposed and had basically forced him into bed with her. Not her bed, but their literal bed.

Which only made him even more confused.

"April?"

He walks past her lying form on the ground, seeing her eyes slowly drift open. Crap, she'd been asleep, he thinks.

Jackson carefully leans down and picks up a couple of logs to throw onto the fire to keep the heat from escaping. Well, apparently she didn't. Or did she?

Safe to safe, he was confused about the whole thing.

But judging by the way she was holding that blanket around her sleeping body, he was assuming she was cold. Which is why her whole tiny shorts and nervous stance thing kind of baffled him.

Was she trying to come onto him?

Sure, they needed the fire for warmth, and the candles for light, but he's not too convinced that there wasn't some tension in the air anyway.

He's not the most romantic guy, but even he was willing to admit that the whole quaint little cabin holiday with a soft rug and a fireplace and hot cocoa and a beautiful woman as company was appealing.

Wait- Did he just call her beautiful?

Yes, there was no denying that she was, he'd always thought so, he'd just mostly kept that word in the back of his mind.

He knew she was beautiful, and she deserved to know it because he knows that she doubts it, her beauty, but he wasn't sure that it'd be smart of him to call her out on it. Wouldn't that be crossing a line of friendship?

Not that they weren't crossing any already, that was.

"What are you thinking?"

He whips his head back around at her quiet question, letting his green eyes drift across her body as she sits up, one palm pressing against the rug and the other hand on her leg.

"I was just making sure it didn't stop." He informs her, tilting his head toward the fireplace. He steps away from the wall then, stuffing his hands into his soft pickets and trying to ignore the way her eyes roll down his bare chest.

The redhead nods, peeling her eyes away from his flesh and biting her bottom lip as she glances down at her lap.

"Has it stopped?"

"No, I was just-"

She smiles, the corner of her lip turning upwards, "No. The blizzard."

"Oh, uh- No. No, I guess not." He speaks, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

He licks his lips, blinks a couple of times, mentally kicking himself when he lets his gaze drop to her cleavage when she yawns, arms outstretched.

But then he notices her face, the way she was watching him back, the way she'd been looking at him in a way that neither of them ever had to each other.

April drops her arms, leaning back on her elbows, chest suddenly heavy under his intense stare. "Come here." She bites her lip, eyes wide and lips damp.

He doesn't say anything for a second, instead just looks at her, unsure and almost nervous.

This couldn't be happening, right? Or had a ton of snow and blackout and some crackling firewood changed the way he sees her, the way they see each other.

She wasn't cute but dorky April anymore.

She was April, his April. The one who was inviting him down onto a rug in front of a fireplace in an attempt to satisfy one of her obvious romantic fantasies.

But, he does it.

He kneels down, slowly and still partially unsteady. He's close to her, but not close enough to feel her, breathe her in. He blinks, eyes moving from her own to her lips and back.

April gulps, feeling her breathing level speed up and her heart rate pulse. She shifts back in comfort when he nears her, gently moving above her until his hands rest by her sides and his legs cage her own in.

"April?" His voice is low, husky, almost kind of silent but just loud enough for her to hear.

Jackson frowns, bright eyes half closed as he stares at her, teeth scraping his lip harshly.

She nods slowly, but she's not even positive what she's agreeing to.

Is she seriously considering this, considering giving him her? Or is she just taken in by the atmosphere, by the air and smells of warm cocoa and essence of burning wood?

Then, he leans down, breath hovering over her own lips, forehead pressed to hers gently.

It's strange, having him this close. He's her friend, her best, and she doesn't remember the last time someone had ever been this close to her, this intimate with her.

It's strange because they're about to cross a line and she's positive that she won't regret it.

"Plea-" She cuts off, feeling his lips suddenly pressed to hers, leaning up and into him as he cups the sides of her face.

Jackson groans, thumbs brushing along her cheekbones and tongue tracing her lower lip, begging for entrance.

If he had known that kissing her, his forbidden fruit, would be like this then he would have done it a long time ago.

She pushes her chest against him, hands moving up his shoulders to grasp the back of his neck and pull him down on top of her.

She draws her legs up at his sides, clasping her ankles together behind his ass as they continue to kiss, tongues clashing and mouths bruising.

His hands make their way down her neck, his right sweeping past her chest until it rests along her waist, clutching at the material of her tank top.

His left moves in her hair, pulling on her locks and tugging her against him longingly as she grips the hem of his pants.

He pulls away briefly, resting his forehead to hers as he glance down at her for reassurance.

She simply nods, smiles with faint crimson blush and slips her small hands down the back of his boxers, pulling both sets of material down his legs as he moves to shuffle them off.

"You sure about this?" He whispers softly.

She's his friend, his best, and he wants nothing more than do this, but not if it comes at the price of their purely platonic relationship. But maybe this, they, could work? Maybe they should have been all along?

"Jackson, I'm fine." She licks her lips, grabs his face between her hands, "Really, I am."

He doesn't respond, just grins proudly and kisses her again, pushing up the edge of her tank top to bring it up her chest.

She pulls it off and he helps her discard the item on the floor before she sets to work on her shorts as he traces his lips down her neck to her chest.

She shifts her hips up into his slightly to slip her shorts down her legs, and he grips her waist when she finishes to keep her in place.

"You good?" He asks, moving lower down her body until his breath comes in contact with her inner thighs.

She pants, holding her breath and letting her eyes drift close, "I'm great."

She gasps when she feels him press a soft kiss against the centre of her panties and he smirks, tugging on the edge of the thin material with his sharp teeth.

Moving back up her body, he watches her for any signs of uncertainty before he grasps her hips and lifts her hips to pull her underwear down her legs.

He drops them away, hands pushing open her knees to spread her legs before he moves between them.

She gasps when she feels him against her inner thigh, and her hands clutch at his biceps to keep herself from moving.

"If you don't want to do this, we don't have to." He tells her, with an important nod and a stare that could melt her heart.

Looking at her like that isn't going to stop her from wanting him. Definitely not.

April blushes, moving one of her hands down between their bodies to grasp him and settle him against her entrance. She takes a deep breath, "I want this. I want you."

"I want you, too." Jackson smiles, teeth grazing his lip before he leans down to kiss her, hopefully taking away the gasp as he enters hers slowly, hands gripping her waist roughly.

She breathes into him, and he swallows her soft cries, his mouth masking her moans.

Her hips grind up into his with every thrust and he groans when she swirls them, moving her fingers to dig her nails into his shoulder-blades.

"Wait, wait, wait." She pulls away from his lips, breath shallow and she reaches behind him to drag up the blanket before throwing it across his behind.

"Cold?" He teases her.

"A little." She admits, quickly bucking her pelvis up into him to get him moving again and he grunts at that.

"Are you okay?"

She nods, though it takes her a second, "I'm better than I thought I would be."

"Been thinking of this, have you?"

"All night." She admits, licking her lips before she kisses him again, coldly biting down on his bottom lip when he speeds his pace, making sure she meets his every inch.

April moans gently, letting his lips slip away to her neck, as she feels herself nearing climax, her fingertips bruising his caramel skin.

Jackson closes his eyes, softly sucking small patches of her skin as she pulsates, her hips working wildly beneath him. He grins proudly when he feels her reach orgasm, thighs shaking by his own and her hands shaky as her hips buck insanely.

It's incredibly hot and he'll never be able to get rid of the image, of the feeling, of his April freeing herself beneath him.

He follows soon after, one hand digging into her waist as the other moves to fondle her breast and cradle her side lovingly.

She cries out when he finishes, silencing his groans with a deep kiss.

When they're done, he lingers above her for a moment, eyes staring intently into hers, lips forced onto her own by their own freewill.

He collapses down next to her soon after, once oxygen becomes vital again and his arms weaken.

April can't help but let out a giggle, eyes closed and nose crinkled.

"That was-"

Jackson nods, an obvious grin playing across his face, "Yeah."

It's like the snowball effect, they are. They grew, together and apart, and they started from the basis of nothing to end up here. Only it wasn't a disaster and it couldn't be.

He goes to grab the blanket that had previously covered them before she pulls it out of his grasp and turns on her side to face him, sprawling the plaid out over her body.

"Get your own blanket."

He does so accordingly, plucking down a thick white one from the stack on the table. He throws it open over himself and lies down to face her tiredly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yours is thicker than mine." April complains in a quiet whisper, biting her lip after she finishes.

He chuckles, shuffling closer to her and flinging an arm across her waist, "I guess we'll just have to share."


End file.
